Love, Jasmine
“Dear NICU Mama, When your baby sees you, they see the joy you have in your eyes. For us, we remember the amount of pain and stress we've faced throughout our journey. But for our sweet babies, they only ever knew joy because you showed up with a full heart and hoped that each day would be a step closer to coming home.
This is an experience that becomes a part of your routine filled with uncertainty, but your baby will thrive. Sometimes, you'll feel hopeless and want to trade places with your baby to take away the discomfort. But no matter what, your comfort is always there and not a single moment is missed until you arrive because your love still provides peace and comfort. From the supportive and reassuring NICU nurses, practitioners, therapists, and neonatologists to your loved ones, the progress your baby has made is important - no matter how big or small.
Being a NICU mama is exactly what having a miracle looks like. You have a purpose and you are a part of an amazing sisterhood of other mama's you can lean on. Your baby sees your courage and feels your strength. Every sleepless night, every tear shed, every phone call, and every single visit to NICU, you've spoken so much more life into your baby.
Before and after this experience, when you're holding on to your precious baby at home, you will look back on this journey and remember exactly why you made it through. You're brave, mama! This is what we were made for and there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel. You're embarking on a never-ending journey of becoming, and every moment matters through the good and the bad. Be gentle and kind to yourself because each day will start to become a little bit brighter, and through your child's eyes, your light will never fade.”
Love,
Jasmine
More of Jasmine + Miles’ NICU Journey:
“We were blessed to find out that we were going to become parents to our second child and our rainbow baby last year. My due date was for June 8, 2022, and our son Matthew was so excited to become a big brother! Unfortunately before leaving work on on February 5, 2021, I used the bathroom before leaving to get our son from school and noticed I was having a lot of heavy bleeding. )I work as a care tech for labor and delivery at our local hospital here in Mobile, Alabama, so you can imagine the immediate response from my coworkers, coming to my aid to help me.) I was sent off to the doctor's office ASAP. Everything happened so fast and my doctor wasn't able to come to me so I was rushed back to my unit. My water bag was slowly bulging. I was transferred to the Children and Women's Hospital here in Mobile, AL. We have the best NICU here. I was placed on bed rest from February 5, 2021 until February 9, 2021.
Our son Miles Jensen Pitre was born at 6:57 pm at 23 weeks weighing 1 pound 1.4 oz exactly. Throughout the journey of trying to prevent yet another premature birth (our first was born at 31 weeks in July 2015), the diagnosis I was given was that I had an incompetent cervix. My birthing experience was very traumatic. I never got to hear our son cry as they had to rush to try resuscitating him right away. Miles was in the NICU until June 10th when doctors expected for him to stay until August or September. Throughout his NICU stay, he suffered from a grade 2 and grade 3 brain bleed, ROP for his eyes, and in the end, he got to come home on oxygen for another month. He's only had one surgery so far and he is thriving! Despite having 2-3 weekly appointments, he's our miracle baby. “
